Military

Further Reading

14 September 2001

Transcript: Secretary of State Powell Briefing at State Dept., Sept. 14

(Diplomatic efforts continue to build coalition against terrorism)
(2460)
The Bush administration is continuing to work hard to build an
international coalition against terrorism and to prepare an
anti-terrorism campaign, Secretary of State Colin Powell told
reporters at a State Department briefing September 14.
"I'll be speaking to the Israeli defense minister in a few moments.
And I have a call in to the Syrian foreign minister. And this will
continue throughout the day for me," said Powell.
In terms of his conversations with foreign leaders, the Secretary of
State said he had most recently spoken with the foreign ministers of
Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Tunisia, Japan and India.
Powell said he was "very pleased to receive an exceptionally strong
statement of support from the Indian government. And we had heard that
previously, but he confirmed it this morning."
He noted that the State Department was waiting for a response from
Pakistan's President, General Pervez Musharraf, regarding U.S.
requests to that government.
Powell said he was "quite encouraged that the Pakistani government is
taking this so seriously and so deliberately. And our ambassador is
waiting for a reaction from them."
Asked if he had a message for the Taliban of Afghanistan, Powell said:
"to the extent that you are providing havens, support, encouragement,
and other resources" to terrorist organizations, "you need to
understand you cannot separate your activities from the activity of
these perpetrators."
The Secretary said that "in our response, we will have to take into
account not only the perpetrators, but those who provide haven,
support, inspiration, financial and other assets to the perpetrators,
as the President said in his very first set of remarks some days ago."
He added that he was "pleased at the actions of the Australian
government in activating the ANZUS treaty as an expression of
support," saying it was similar to what NATO did.
And he said he was pleased at expressions of support received from
Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan and other countries.
In addition, Powell told reporters he was "grateful for the
resolution" approved by the U.S. Senate, and the support that the
Congress is giving to the administration's efforts against terrorism.
"It shows the United States as a nation, as a people, coming together
in this time of crisis and showing our determination to move forward
deliberately and decisively to deal with this particular incident, as
well as the broader threat represented by world terrorism," the
Secretary said.
Powell made clear that waging a war against terrorism is different
than traditional warfare because "the enemy is in many places. The
enemy is not looking to be found. The enemy is hidden. The enemy is,
very often, right here within our own country.
"And so you have to design a campaign plan that goes after that kind
of enemy, and it isn't always blunt-force military, although that is
certainly an option," said Powell. "It may well be that the diplomatic
efforts, political efforts, legal, financial, other efforts, may be
just as effective against that kind of an enemy as would military
force be."
Following is the State Department transcript:
(begin transcript)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
September 14, 2001
ON-THE-RECORD BRIEFING BY SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN L. POWELL
September 14, 2001
2:15 p.m. EDT
Washington, D.C.
SECRETARY POWELL: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I will be
brief today because of time constraints, and I have a phone call
coming in just a few moments. So I will give you a short statement of
just what we have been doing in the State Department over the last 24
hours, take a couple of questions, and then I regret I'll have to
leave.
We continue to work hard to build the coalition that you've heard me
talking about for the last several days and to get this campaign plan
in place. We talked about it at the Cabinet meeting this morning. The
President is very pleased with the work that the Cabinet has been
doing, and we can start to see the air traffic system come back up,
begin to see the relief efforts picking up speed.
We are very grateful for the resolution that has come from the Senate
and the support that the Congress is giving to our efforts. It shows
the United States as a nation, as a people, coming together in this
time of crisis, and showing our determination to move forward
deliberately and decisively to deal with this particular incident, as
well as the broader threat represented by world terrorism.
I have been in touch with a number of officials in addition to the
Cabinet meeting and the very moving memorial service that we just had
up at the National Cathedral earlier in the morning. I spoke to the
Foreign Minister of India, Mr. Singh, and I was very pleased to
receive an exceptionally strong statement of support from the Indian
Government. We had heard that previously, but he confirmed it this
morning.
I have also had conversations with the Portuguese Foreign Minister,
the Saudi Foreign Minister, Moroccan and Tunisian Foreign Ministers,
my colleague Foreign Minister Tanaka of Japan. I'll be speaking to the
Israeli Defense Minister in a few moments, and I have a call in to the
Syrian Foreign Minister. And this will continue throughout the day for
me.
But beyond that, we have instructed our ambassadors around the world
to go in and talk to their colleagues in those capitals to let them
know how serious we are about this and begin to set the stage for any
other requests we might have for them with respect to what we do as we
go forward.
In addition, our regional assistant secretaries here in the State
Department have been inviting in ambassadors resident here in
Washington to discuss the situation with them and to receive any
questions they may have and to pass on any guidance that we have
available to them.
As you know, we are waiting to hear from President Musharraf of
Pakistan, and I am quite encouraged that the Pakistani Government is
taking this so seriously and so deliberately. And our Ambassador is
waiting for a reaction from them.
I might also say that I am pleased at the actions of the Australian
Government in activating the ANZUS Treaty as an expression of support,
and a little similar to what NATO did. But those alliances that we
hold dear and have used so effectively to keep us together as friendly
nations over these many years, are now, it seems to me, paying off as
people come forward to help us.
I'm also pleased at expressions of support we have received from
countries such as Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan and others are coming
in. I don't have all of them on my list or in my memory, and Richard
Boucher will, in the course of the day, let you know who we have heard
from and what kind of responses we have received from them.
And let me just stop there and take a couple of questions before I
have to make a phone call.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, any indications of what the Pakistani --
whether you get a positive response from Pakistan? You're going to
call the Syrian; any indications yet of their position?
SECRETARY POWELL: Yes. The Syrians, President Assad sent to President
Bush a very strong letter of support and efforts against terrorism.
Now, of course we have had a mixed relationship with Syria over the
years, and in the course of my conversation, hopefully, this
afternoon, with my colleague, I'll pursue the spirit of the letter
that President Assad sent to President Bush and see where that takes
us.
QUESTION: And any indications from the Pakistanis, even though there
is no final answer?
SECRETARY POWELL: So far I am very encouraged, but I think it's best
that I do wait for a final answer.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, Indian media says that that government handed
over some maps to you today of guerilla camps and other training areas
that Afghanistan is said to be using.
Can you confirm that that's --
SECRETARY POWELL: I can't confirm it. I just don't know. Richard can
chase that down for you, but I can't confirm it here. It wasn't
mentioned to me in my phone call at about 9:00 or 9:30 or 10:00,
whenever I had it, or about 10:30, I guess it was, with the Indian
Foreign Minister.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, we have heard a lot -- yourself and other
Cabinet members and officials say as we reach out to countries and ask
for help, you're either with us or you're against us. Now, of course
we hope that all countries would be with us, but if we ask for
something from a country, we ask them to root out terrorism in all its
forms or to provide logistical or any type of other support that we
need for any eventual military response, if they decline, if they say
that they won't do what the US asks, what are the consequences for
"being against us"?
SECRETARY POWELL: I think we have to be careful as we go forward, and
we intend to be. We are talking with countries that are friendly to us
and we will present requests to them and see what they are able to do
within their capacity and within their political circumstances. But if
we find a particular country, especially those that might be serving
as a haven or is a well known supporter of this kind of activity, and
they are simply unresponsive, and we deem that unresponsiveness to be
contributing to additional terrorism or to the fertile ground in which
terrorism thrives, then that will certainly affect the kind of
relationship we are going to have with them in the future.
I am not threatening so much as I am saying this has become a new
benchmark, a new way of measuring the relationship and what we can do
together in the future and what kind of support we can provide to you
in the future across the whole range of issues and activities.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, for the last two days you've been saying how
important you think it is that despite the events here, the tragic
events here, that it is still very, very important for the Israelis
and the Palestinians to have high-level meetings between Chairman
Arafat and Foreign Minister Peres. Now Prime Minister Sharon has now
called that meeting off.
And secondly, you're speaking to the Israeli Defense Minister later.
Are you going to bring up his comments that were quoted in an Israeli
newspaper this morning in which he said that the disasters in New York
and here were a catastrophe for Arafat because the Israelis had killed
14 Palestinians since then and no one had noticed?
SECRETARY POWELL: I don't know what we will discuss. I haven't seen
those comments, but I know him rather well and I'm sure we'll have
many things to discuss. But I won't prejudge what I might raise or
what he might raise and announce it before he raises it or I raise it.
I would still hope that a way is found for the Israelis and the
Palestinians to meet. When they meet is a judgment for them to make.
We have two leaders who have to judge their own interests. We believe
a meeting is important to get the process started. This conflict isn't
going away and I don't think it's going to be solved by continuing
conflict between the two sides. So I hope that conditions will present
themselves soon so that a meeting can begin.
But I think it is also fair to say that the events of the 11th of
September have fundamentally changed the way in which people look at
terrorism and acts of terrorism.
QUESTION: Secretary Powell, as your strategy to fight global terrorism
begins to take shape and as these international coalitions that you
have been trying to build solidify, it is obviously a very different
war that you are preparing to fight in that the enemy is not in one
country. Could you explain this to us?
SECRETARY POWELL: Yes. I was raised a soldier and you are trained:
there is the enemy occupying a piece of ground. We can define it in
time, space and other dimensions, and you can assemble forces and go
after it. This is different. The enemy is in many places. The enemy is
not looking to be found. The enemy is hidden. The enemy is very often
right here within our own country. And so you have to design a
campaign plan that goes after that kind of enemy, and it isn't always
blunt force military, although that is certainly an option. It may
well be that the diplomatic efforts, political efforts, legal,
financial, other efforts, may be just as effective against that kind
of an enemy as would military force be.
And the point the President made this morning is that the whole
Cabinet is involved, and we are going to use all the tools and weapons
at our disposal to fight this campaign and to win this war.
I only have time for one more, and I apologize.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, do you have a message for the Taliban?
SECRETARY POWELL: The message is: To the extent that you are providing
havens, support, encouragement and other resources to organizations
such as the organization headed by Mr. Usama bin Laden that is
attacking civilization, that is killing innocent people -- and I would
give this message to any other regime and other country that might be
doing similar things --to the extent that you are doing these sorts of
things, even though we have not yet -- notwithstanding words like
"prime suspect," we have not yet identified Usama bin Laden as the
direct perpetrator, but we have a lot of evidence that is mounting
which will allow us to determine in the near future who it is.
But he certainly is the leader of that kind of organization, and to
the extent that governments such as the Taliban government in
Afghanistan supports such things, you need to understand you cannot
separate your activities from the activity of these perpetrators. And
in our response, we will have to take into account not only the
perpetrators, but those who provide haven, support, inspiration,
financial and other assets to the perpetrators, as the President said
in his very first set of remarks some days ago.
Thank you. I do have to go.
(The briefing was concluded at 2:30 p.m.)
(end State Department transcript)
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